40. The Shys, You’ll Never Understand This Band the Way That I Do (2008) From the southern edge of the county –- San Clemente, to be specific –- emerged our very own Hives, rockin’ the garages of suburbia with Stones-on-steroids swagger. At least that’s how these guys came off on their 2006 debut, Astoria. Two years later, they cut out the shtick and got serious about developing their sound without fully slicing out its ’70s underbelly. The result is a varied beauty that spans from Mott the Hoople holler to David Lowery at a booze-soaked best to the sort of winsome indie-pop and baroque, piano-driven nuggets that could make Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit envious. Like Wilco growing and experimenting from A.M. to Being There, they’re only beginning to figure out what really works.

39. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, First You Live (2007)
Kinsler sent in a clever comparison about this Fullerton bunch -– if Yes and the Band teamed up and enlisted Gram Parsons –- and suggested last May’s Palace and Stage make the list. It’s a winner, too, and certainly more cohesive, but I get a kick out of its predecessor’s jumbled, off-kilter looseness, ranging from foot-stompin’ Americana to Elton John circa ’73, Jason Falkner power-pop to Dead Milkmen deadpan. Another local cult favorite in the making, despite the backing of SideOneDummy Records (home of Flogging Molly and Gogol Bordello) … or are the seeds of something more just beginning to take root after three albums? Still hard to say.

38. George Fryer, Decaf (2000)
He tumbled out of the ’90s, a brief and ruinous stint with Sugar Ray and incessant (if also justified) OC Weekly raves into a solo career that, like those of so many other unsung local heroes, should’ve been much grander than the bar scene from which Fryer never quite rose. Of course, the guy has always worked in that most passed-over of subgenres -– winsome, bittersweet, sunshine-dappled power-pop, with a side of jangle and Hofner bass. Still cutting gems with the Combo today (see last year’s Strike), this immediately post-Peace Corp. introduction still stands as his defining statement.37. U.S. Bombs, We Are the Problem (2006)
Rancid isn’t the only band that excells at sloppy-yet-tight neo-authentic old-school punk: these O.C. true believers have been valiantly soldiering on since the early ’90s, crafting one fierce blast of Pistols/Clash/Stiff Little Fingers riffing ’n’ ranting after another. Their last two discs for Tim Armstrong’s Hellcat imprint, 2001’s Back to the Laundromat and 2003’s Covert Action, are every bit as good, maybe a tad tougher. But this sprawling salvo, their eighth, finds Duane Peters and pals spreading out a bit, still firing up political diatribes with working-class cheer ‘n’ venom but by album’s end mellowing out enough to show a subtler side without seeming too soft about it … just like Rancid did on its last album.

36. Lee Rocker, Bulletproof (2003)
A better Stray Cats record probably couldn’t have been cut by re-enlisting Brian Setzer and Slim Jim Phantom themselves. While Setzer spent the decade slowly growing stale with his big band while occasionally flashing his burnin’ side on things like his Sun Records tribute and that nifty ’68 Comeback Special project, Rocker, who long ago made O.C. his home, stuck to his guns –- and with this gem cobbled together a superb batch of neo-authentic ditties and cookin’ covers (like a jumped-up country take on the Beatles’ “I’ll Cry Instead”). All of it serves the revivalist legacy of his former band quite well.35. Manic Hispanic, The Recline of Mexican Civilization (2001)
An O.C. cult classic from the minds of Cadillac Tramps frontman Gabby Gaborno (currently recovering from heart surgery, support his benefit show on Jan. 19 at House of Blues Anaheim) and the Adolescents’ Steve Soto plus members of the Grabbers. In it, as the reworking of Penelope Spheeris’ famous rock-doc title and parody of its soundtrack cover suggests, punk staples are lyrically shifted toward the Latino experience, to put it politely. So the Offspring’s “Keep ’Em Separated” becomes “Get Them Immigrated,” the Clash’s “White Man in Hammersmith Palais” winds up a “Brown Man in O.C. Jail,” Social D’s “Mommy’s Little Monster” turns into “Mommy’s Little Cholo” … you get the idea. But if you haven’t heard it, or the Descendents-mocking 2003 follow-up Mijo Goes to Jr. College, you’ve been missing out on some laughs.34. Ignite, Our Darkest Days (2006)
Takes these guys forever to put together new albums –- a full six years passed between this, their sleekest effort, and its predecessor, A Place Called Home. The time away, however, only seemed to strengthen their resolve, as the hardcore impact of this blast (owing as much to Bad Religion as hyper-melodic metalcore) coalesced into a blistering rush any Rise Against fan should admire. The group’s greatest weapon remains vocalist Zoli Téglás, whose high-pitched voice is so strong it could have fronted a wailing hair-metal band back in the day were its owner not so politically outspoken; he even acquits himself well on a cover of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” No wonder he wound up filling in for Jim Lindberg when he split from Pennywise.33. Kerry Getz, Little Victory (2002)
Balboa’s own Aimee Mann still regularly performs throughout O.C., but apart from a 2003 holiday album (the lovely It’s a Wonderful Life) she has yet to properly follow up this, her finest hour, with anything new, as far as I’m aware. That’s what happens when you take five years (following her first kudos-laden effort, Apollo) to make the album of a lifetime, dense with lyrical detail and plush production … yet all the press praise in Southern California doesn’t help it sell well, let alone like mad, and you’re left playing bookstores and outdoor malls (and opening gigs at the Coach House). Getz’s moment may have passed, yet she remains a remarkable talent capable of cutting a comeback that could someday attract the following and commercial success she deserves. Hunt this down and find out why so many critics fell under her spell at the start of the decade.

32. Tyrone Wells, Snapshot (2003)
This savvy and successful Spokane-bred singer-songwriter cut his teeth in O.C. clubs and on independent releases for years before singing to Universal and landing clutches of songs in movies and on TV — and now he regularly packs ’em whenever he comes back to the Mouse House. Close: Live at McClain’s, from 2005, is also worth hearing, but this strong studio effort, worthy of warm comparisons to Ben Harper and often besting Jason Mraz at his own game before he mastered it, is what paved the way to Wells’ brighter future. O.C. has produced plenty of acts that excel in generic pop/rock, from Scarlet Crush to Beyond 7, all of them polished to a fault. Wells trades in just as many of the same easily mishandled formulas, yet his somehow have zing.

31. Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings, Full Tilt & Swing (2003)
The title might lead you to think you’re in for a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy revamp, but Costa Mesa’s Clevenger was actually one of the past decade’s finest purveyors of no-frills, Rickenbacker-jangling power-pop, with all comparisons to Nick Lowe and Tom Petty warranted. Though his faithful backing band the Dairy Kings has never let him down, it still took the guy four years to follow up his ’90s output, the sparkling debut The Man with the X-Ray Eyes and the winking Love Songs to Myself. The wait was worth it, as Clevenger added a rustic touch to his shimmering pop and delivered his most mature batch of songs so far. Now if he’d just get ’round to making another record.

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